1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for treating a fiber-plastic composite of a rotor blade and a semifinished product in form of a composite, in particular of a composite structure and a UV lamp for curing a UV-curable matrix material at a rotor blade.
2. Description of the Related Art
Over their period of operation, rotor blades will often suffer damage, for example through erosion, wear or lightning stroke, that will minimize their output. Repair methods that can be applied on site at the wind power plant, are particularly suited for remedying especially minor damages quickly and cost-efficiently. Repairs are mostly carried out by using fiber-reinforced composite materials. The matrix materials commonly used in this context include two-component adhesives, as described for example in WO 2012/084949 A1, radical-curing resins with peroxide as catalyst or temperature-curing resins.
Two-component adhesives have the disadvantage that they must be used quickly upon preparation of the mixture, which is difficult in particular if repairs must be carried out to mounted rotor blades.
Temperature-curing resins, on the other hand, start to cure once an increased temperature is applied, which means that they can be used longer; the curing times for common systems that are used for rotor blade repairs are, however, approximately six hours. Not only must the curing temperature be ensured by means of corresponding heaters during such time, but this will also lead to longer downtimes of the wind power plant. Moreover, temperature curing may also lead to strains in the materials due to different expansion coefficients in the respective fiber-reinforced composite materials. Also, temperature-curing resins can be stored only to a limited extent at room temperature and may require a cold chain in order for the resin not to cure prematurely.